Mahjongg: Kontpab

It's a shame that the large majority of dance music today has become predictable, sampled drivel. Every new release from 'artists' such as Cascada and Fedde Le Grand become ever more disconnected from the key concept of dance music.

It's meant to make you want to dance y'know. The key ingredient is rhythm. Something which has strangely managed to creep away from the genre over the years to the extent where it is now almost non-existent in western mainstream music.
.
From one extreme we head to the other, that of simplistic, primitive, single-minded beats on soulless tracks that constantly manage to leech their way into the charts. The happy side effect of this is that it makes it much easier to notice true talent when it does happen to appear. Which coincidently, is the case with Mahjongg's latest offering "Kontpab".

Looking to tribal and tropical lands where rhythm and dance are a philosophy and a way of life rather than simply music, it is from here that they draw their influences. In doing so, Mahjongg already have a sound pair of legs for their body of music to stand upon. The boys and girl sincerely believe that music is something that should touch the heart.

This fact is evident right from the get-go, on "Pontiac" it begins with all manner of acoustic drums playing out, which carefully build from one mood to the next, discreetly adding modern electronics and drone like voices in the chorus as the track plays through. Gradually proceedings get more electronic through the course of the album, such as on the tracks "Problems" and "Tell the police the truth", which capture the kind of euphoria a real police chase would create, although hopefully not ending up with dead Brazilians. In contrast songs like "Those birds are bats" take a step towards the low-fi/noise department to pull out a catchy rant featuring fuzzed-up guitars and vocals constantly returning to spurt out 'those birds are bats' in a consistently catchy manner. Soon the track is fuelled by growing amounts of distortion and feedback.

What works well throughout the entire album is the way each instrument manages to maintain its own individual identity, yet as each of the rhythms intersect with one another, an imaginative picture is formed as if you were watching a thousand worms wriggling, an experience which is resolutely hypnotic in effect.

With album closer "Rise Rice" the concept is finally complete, the ideas that were just being noticed in their infancy earlier on in the album become fully realised. It begins with a large array of weird blips and industrial sounds playing out the initial parts of the song, when suddenly the entire composition explodes with the kind of melodic percussion Bjork would dream of having accompany her voice. These are followed by low electronic pulses which eventually push toward dissonant vocals, crossing a large line of borders and coming out as victors in emphatic style. It's yet so early in the year, but "Rise Rice" is already looking like a strong contender for song of the year.

So if you find yourself at the checkout with a copy of the new Cascada single in hand, firstly have a free slap, followed by a strong urging to at least keep it company with "Kontpab". After a few listens you'll be throwing one into the garbage to join the discarded piles of AOL discs, the other will forever hold a place close to your heart. See if you can guess which is which.